Elevator-shaft and doors therefor.



W. BARDSLEY.

ELEVATOR SHAFT AND DOORS THEREFOR.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 2l, 1911y 1,095,3'?O Patented May 5, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

lll/l wma/oom W. BARDSLEY.

ELEVATOR SHAFT AND DOORS THEREPOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1911.

1,095,370. Patented May 5, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WILLIAM BAARDSLEY, lOIE KEABNEY, NEW

ELVVATOR-SHIAFT AND DOORS THEREFOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 5, 1914.

Application lcd November 21, 1911. Serial No. 661,475.

To all'fwhom it may concern:

Be it known t/hat'I, lVILLIAM BARDsLnY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Kearney, in the county o f Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator- Shafts and Doors Therefor, of which the following is a specification. l

-The invention relates to improvements in the character of elevator shafts and doors therefor' common to factory and loft/huildings, and it consists in the novel features, structure and combinations of partshereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims. v

In the preferred embodiment of my invention I provide the elevator shaft or Well at each floor of the building with two verticallyI movable tire doors or a door in two sections, one opening upwardly and the other downwardly, said doors having means for cornpelling simultaneous movement, thereof `in opposite directions and the upper door being` heavier than the lower door, so that when the doors are released to close, they will automatically move to their closed posi- In accordance with my lnventlon I tion. provide means for automatically lockmg the doors 1n their' open posltlon and of releasmg said doors to automatically close when the car leaves the ioor at whichthe doors may have been opened, and I also provide means whereby should the-car be ileft at a door for the. night or other period and the doors thereat carelessly left in their open position, said doors will be released in the eventl of a fire taking place, to close, a fusible member being provided in the locking mechanism to melt in the event of fire and permit the'. release of the doors to close automatically; I also provide the doors i with means for cushioning their action, thereby avoiding slamming and consequent accidents, and also with special means for suspending the lowerA door in such manner that its upper edge will, when the doorsare open, be in line with the floor of the building and the floor of the elevator car, so that asy little space as possible may be left between the floor of the building and the car.

The kinvention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accomvator shaft or well equipped With the features of my invention, the View being taken from the inner side of the shaft or well and looking at the rear facesof the doors, whichv in Fig. 1 are shown in their open positiong Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same on the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. 1, with aportion of the car or hoist in position 'at one 'floor and in line with the opening betweenthe two doors or door sections; Fig.- 3 1s Aa horizontal section through the same on the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. J: is an enlarged View of the devices for locking. the

upper door in its upper position; Fig. 5 is aI horizontal section of the same on the dotted line 5 5 of Fig. 4,.; Fig. is a vertical sec'- tion of the same on the dotted line 6 6 of Fig. 4, andFig. 7 is an enlarged vertical section of the cushioning devices for cushioning and controlling the action of the doors.

.In the drawings, 1() designates a portion of an elevator shaft or well, 11a portion of an elevator car or hoist therein, 12 oneof the `floors ofthe building, 13 a door-,way leading from a loft or room possessing sald floor to the car, 14: anupper sliding door or door Sectlon, and 15 a lower slidmg door or door sectlon, sald sectlonsbeing shown 1n the1r ,open position in Figs. 1 and 2 ,and being 'adapted to move vertically toward and from each other for controlling said door-way 13.

`The door Lsections 14,15 are provided with laterally projecting flanges or the ylike 16 adapted to the guides 17 which are fastened to the wall of the building and serve to confine and direct. the door sections 1l, 15 in their `movements toward and from each other. The flanges 16 and guides 17 may be of any suitable form and construction. The

door sections 14, 15 are shown in their open covered with sheet iron.v

I he door sections 14, 15 are connected together aty each side of the elevator-shaft lneans of ropes or cables- 18 which pass over pulleys 19 mounted iu the shaft, said cables being coxnecte'd vat their upper ends with a bar 20 constituting the lower edge of the door section 111 and at their lower ends toa bar 21 constituting the upper edge of or secured to the door section 15. The connecting cables or ropes 1S assure simultaneous movement in the door sections 14,15 toward and from each other, any upward.movement of the door section 14 acting to pay out the cables 13 over the pulleys 1S) and allowing Ithe lower door section 15 to descend, and any downward movement ofthedoor section 15 acting to draw on the cables 18 and thereby elevate'the door section 14. The upper door section 14 is heavier than the lower door section 15, and this is for the purpose of eompelling an automatic movement of the door r-sections, when they are released, to their closed position. t

ycar 11 leaves the floor 12.

When the door sections 14, 15 are opened by an attendant on the elevator hoist or car 11, they should remain open so long as the elevator ear is at the floor 12 and should automati -ally close .when the car 11 leaves said floor, and to these'ends I provide means for locking the doors in their open position` and of releasing the locking means when the The means provided for locking the doors 14, 15 in their open position may comprise a latch 22 pivotally mounted in a slot in the door section 14 and provided with a spring 23 tending to turn said latch outwardly toward the elevator shaft or well- 10, a bar 24 to be engaged by said latch 22 and a spring-bar 25 to whiehsaid bar 24 is secured and whichis vsecured at its lower end by rivets or the like 2G to a stationary part of the building structurel. 'lhe bar has a spring tension no1'- mally holding its upper portion sufficiently inwardly from the car door for the bar 24 to normally stand free of the path of the projecting portion ot' the latch The springbar 25 is restrained as to its outward movement in a direction from the vertical plane of the doors by means ot' an angular bracket 27, and the lower portion of said bar 25 is formed with a hulged or cam portion 2S, the latter being directly in the vertical path of a cam 2E) .secured upon the ear 1 1 in line with the spring-bar 25. lVhen the car 11 arrives at a tloor ot' the building, the cam 2t) by pressing against the protruding portion 2S ofthe har 25 will cause said har to move inwardly and position thehar 24 f'orengagement with the spring latch 22, and when'the car 11 leaves the floor of the building, mov-- ing either upwardly or downwardly, the cam 2S) will he carried from the projecting portion 2S oi' the har 25 and will thereby release said bar and permit it of its own flexure to spring outwardly l'rom the doors and into the well or shaft 10 as tar as the bracket 2T may permit, and thus carry the bar 24 from engagement with the latch 22, thereby releasing the. doors and permitting them to automatieallyr move to their closed position. The spring latch 22 is restrained by a shoulder 30 from moving unduly outwardly, and

is formed with a shoulder 31 to engage the har` 24 when the latter is held inwardly at its operative position, shown' in Fig. 6, by the engagement ot' the cam l.29 on the car with the projecting portion 28 on the bar 25. The bar 24 thus normally stands free of the latch 22 and is positioned to be engaged by i said latch by the car when arriving at a floor ot' the building. The bar 24 will preferably be pivotally secured to the bar 25 and provided with a spring 32 normally acting to pull it downwardly toward a lparallel position with-'the bar 25, and the action of the spring 32 is restrained by means of a link 33 extending from the upper portion of said bar 24 to the upper portion of the bar 25 and containing a fusible element 34 which will melt in the event of a tire takin place in the building and reaching sai link. Under normal conditions `the bar 24 will y stand at right angles to the bar 25, as shown in Fig. 4, .with the spring 32 exerting its force to turn said bar downwardly and with the link 33 restraining the action of the spring 32 and maintaining saidy bar in a horizontal position. The spring 32 is only permitted to act to pull the bar 24 downwardly when the fusible member 34 melts, and the presence, of the spring 32 and link'33 is advantageous more particularly to enab e the automatic closing ot' the door-sections 4, 15 in the event that the car 11 should be left at a floorot the building for the night or other period and 'the doors thereat carelessly left 100 in their open position. In the event of a lire. it is desirable that the elevator shaft should be closed, and the means I have provided to-wit: the spring 32 and link 33 coaeting with the bar24 will insure the re* 105 lease of the doors to close in the event that they should have been left open and that a lire should take place.

The movement of the door sections 14, 15 should be so controlled that the upper edge 11o ot' the lower door section will be about on a level with the floor 12 and the floor of the ear 11. when the .said sections are in their open position`r and while I do not limit the entire invention to any special means for thus limiting the movement of the doors, sineethe control of the movement of either. door-section will govern the lmovement of the. other dom-section, I preferably connect the upper edge. of the lower door section or the ends of the bai' 21 thereon with strong chains 35, whose upper ends are fastened to a stationary portion of the building strueture and which chains are of such length that upon the opening of the lower door section 15 they will stop and suspend the same when the bar 21 is on a level with the floor 12.

In order to prevent any slamming of the I door sections 14, 15 and thereby .to avoid ac- 180 cidents, noise and wear on the. door connections, as well as the doors themselves, I provide cushioning means preferably comprising air cylinders 36 secured to the wall of the shaft and each containing a piston 37 and projecting piston-rod 38, the latter preferably having coiled upon it a spring 39 acting to move the piston-rod to its outer or exposed position. The cylinders 36 and piston-rods 38 are in the path of buffers 40 secured on the projecting end portions of the bar 21 carried by the lower door section 15. vWhenthe door sections 14,15 move toward their closed position or toward each other, the buffers 40 will strike the piston-rods 38 and drive the pistons 37 upwardly into the upper portions of the cylinders 36, wherein the air will be trapped and act as a -cushion to prevent the violent meeting of the door sections 14, 15, without however/interferin with said sections coming together. The cushioning vof the sections 14, 15 is effected by the air trapped in the upper ends of the cylinders 36 during the closing movements of said sections and also partly by the springs 39.v After the door sections 14, 15 are moved to their opened position, the air will leak from the cylinders 36 and the pis,

tons 37 and piston-rods 38 willA automatically descend to their lower position, being assisted in such movement by the springs 39. I rovide within the upper ends of the cylinders 36 a cushioning block 41 against which the central portions of the pistons 37 may move, and in the lower ends of the cylinders 36 I provide a disk or block of cushioning material 42 to receive the lower end of the pistons when the latter descend to their lower position. In the present instance I have the piston-rods 38 projected downwardly so as to be driven upwardly by the lower door section 15, but obviously the cylinders 36 maybe turned upside down and said yrods 38 operated from the upper door section 14. I have also in the present instance extended the cables or ropes 18 downwardly through `the cylinders 36 and pistonrods 38, but it is to be understood that said cables or ropes do not constitute any direct portion of the cushioning devices, since said devices would perform just exactly the same function if the ropes or cables 18 extendedalong the sides of instead of through said cylinders. It is convenient in the matter of economizing space to extend the ropes or cables 18 lengthwisey through the cylinders 36.

The operation of the door sections 14, 15 and parts connected therewith will be understood without much further detailed description. It may be said, however, that upon the car 11 arriving at a floor of the building, the cam 29 thereon by engaging the spring bar 25 will 4move the latch-bar 24 inwardly toward the vertical plane of the 1mplace, the fuse 34 will melt and per door section 14, and that theoperator erably by pushing the upper door section upwardly. Upon the upper door section 14 reaching its upper position, the latch 22 will have traveled behind the latch-bar 24 and will spring outwardly above said bar,

orto the position shown in Figs. 4 and 6, and by its engagement with said bar will support the upper door section in its open position andthrough the cables or ropes 18 aid in suspending the lower door section 15 in its open position. Upon the car l1 leaving the floor at which the door sections were opened, the cam 29 on the car will release the spring bar 25 and the latter will move the latch-bar 24 from below the latch 22, and thereupon the door-sections 14, 15 will automatically close, their closing movement being cushioned by theair trapped within the cylinders 36. When the lower section 15 is in its open position, the chains 35 vwill suspend it firmly so that it may fully resist any pressure which may be exerted against its upper edge when said edge is Vin line with the floor 12. Should the door sections 14, 15 be left open through carelessness or otherwise and a fire` should take the spring 32 will then turn the bar 24 downwardly from the latch 22 and enable the door sections 14, 15 to close automatically, the upper door section being heavier than the lower door section and compelling an automatic closing of the doors when the latch 22 is free of the bar 24. The upper door section 14 being heavier than the lower door section 15 overbalances said lower door section, but I do not limit my invention to this precise arrangement since the automatic closing of the door-sections may be attained in other ways, as, for instance, the lower door section may be overbalanced by weights and ropes, Vsuch as are commonly used on'ordinary window'. sashes, to automati'cally move it to its closed position and enable it, through the ropes, chains or cables 18, to move the upper door section 14 to its closed position.

By the terms door and door-sections as employed herein I mean to include both fire-proof and non-fire-proof doors and door sections and doors and door sections made of slats or pickets and commonly called gates.

What I claim'vas my invention and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising a vertically slidable door for the entrance from a floor of a building to a car in said shaft, a latch carried by the door, a bar to be engaged by said latch'when said door is moved to its open position' for holding the 'dooropem means normally holdin said bar -on the car will open the doors by hand, prefmeans on the car for moving said bar inY the vertical plane of said latch and there maintaining it when the car is at rest at a floor of the building, combined with the car and means -for effecting the disengagement of said bar and latch in case of fire to permit said door to move to its closed position.

2. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising a vertically slidable door for the entrance from a floor ofa building to a car in said shaft, a latch carried by the door, a bar to be engaged by said latch when said door is moved to its open position for holding the door open, means normally holding said bar out of the vertical plane of said latch, and means on the car for moving said bar in the vertical plane of said latch andl there maintaining it when the car is at rest at a floor of the building, combined with the car and means for effecting the disengagement of said bar and latch in case of fire to permit said door to move toits closed position and comprising a fusible member hold. ing said bar in a normal position and a spring having a tension-against said bar to move it to an inoperative position when not restrained by said fusible member.

3. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising, in combination, a car in the shaft, a vertically slidable door for the entrance from a floor of a building to the car in said shaft, a latch carried by the door, a bar to be engaged by said latch when said door is moved to its open position for holding the door open, and means for effecting the disengagement of said bar and latch. in case of fire to permit said door to move to its closed position. i

4. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising, in combination, a car in the shaft, a vertically slidable door for the entrance from a floor of a building to the car in said shaft, a latch carried by the door, a bar to be engaged by said latch when said door is moved to its open position for holding the door open, and means for eifecting the disengagement of said bar and latch in case of lire to permit said 'door to move to its closed position and comprising a fusible member holding said bar in a normal position and a spring having a tension against said bar to move it to an inoperative position when not restrained by said fusible member.

5. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising door sections vertically slidable toward and noname from each other for the entrance from a iioor of a, building to a carin said shaft, iieXible means connecting said door sections for enabling their simultaneous movement,l

a latch carried by the upper door section which is heavier-.than the lower door section, a bar to be engaged by said latch when the door sections are moved to their open position for holding them open, means normally holding said bar out of the vertical plane of said latch, and means on the car for moving said bar in the vertical plane of said latch and there maintaining it when the car is at rest at a oor of the building, combined with the car and means for edecting the disengagement of said bar and latch in case of lire to permit said door sections to automatically move to their closed position and comprising a fusible member hold ing said bar in a normal position and a spring having a tension against said bar to move it to an inoperative position when not restrained by said fusible melnber.

6. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising, in combination, a car inthe shaft, door sections vertically slidable toward and from each other for the entrance from a floor of a building to the car in said shaft', flexible means connecting said door sections for enabling'their simultaneous movement, means for holding said sections in their open position, and flexible means connected with the lower door section for suspending it when in its open position with its upper edge about on a level with said floor.

7. Elevator shaft mechanism comprising, in combination, a car in the shaft, door sec tions vertically slidable toward and fromA each other for the entrance from a floor of a building to the car in said shaft, flexible means connecting said door sections for enabling their simultaneous movement, means for holding said sections in their open posi tion, and chains secured at their upper ends to lthe building structure and at their lower ends to said lower door section for suspending said section when in its lower position with its upper edge about on a level with said ioor.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 18th day ofNovember A. D. 1911.

WUM BARI) SLEY.

lVitnesses ARTHUR Mainou Giras. C. GriLL. 

